Fred VanVleet (born February 25, 1994 in Rockford, Illinois, Illinois) is an American professional basketball player who plays as a point guard for the Toronto Raptors in the NBA.
Career
2016-17 season
In 2016, Fred VanVleet competed in the 2016 NBA Draft, but was not selected by the team. VanVleet then represented the Toronto Raptors in five summer league games in Las Vegas, averaging 6.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 16 minutes of playing time. He shot 41.7 percent from the field (10-of-24) and 54.5 percent from three-point range. On July 19, 2016, the Raptors announced the signing of Fred VanVleet. The two-year contract is worth $1.45 million, with partial coverage for the 2016-17 season and no coverage for the 2017-18 season.
On November 10, 2016, in the Raptors' 112-102 win over the Oklahoma Thunder, Fred VanVleet came off the bench for the Raptors and made his NBA career debut. On December 3, in the Raptors' 113-80 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Fred VanVleet played four minutes for the Raptors and scored two points, the first goal of his NBA career. On December 19, in the Raptors' 109-79 victory over the Orlando Magic, Fred VanVleet played 23 minutes for the Raptors, scoring 4 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, setting a new career single-game rebound, assist and steal high.
On January 14, 2017, in the Raptors' 119-109 win over the Brooklyn Nets, Fred VanVleet played 25 minutes for the Raptors, scoring 10 points and 4 rebounds, setting a new career single-game scoring and rebounding record. On Feb. 4, in the Raptors' 94-102 loss to the Magic, Fred VanVleet played 23 minutes for the Raptors and scored 15 points, setting a new career single-game scoring record. On April 13, in the Raptors' 98-83 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Fred VanVleet played 21 minutes for the Raptors, scoring 6 assists, setting a new career single-game assist high. In the 2016-17 regular season, Fred VanVleet played in 37 games for the Raptors, averaging 7.9 minutes per game, with 2.9 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists.
2017-18 season
On November 25, 2017, in the Raptors' 104-107 loss to the Indiana Pacers, Fred VanVleet played 28 minutes for the Raptors, with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and five steals, setting a new career single-game record for points, rebounds and steals. On Nov. 30, in the Raptors' 126-113 win over the Charlotte Hornets, Fred VanVleet played 18 minutes for the Raptors, scoring 8 points and 9 assists, setting a new career-high assist. On January 12, 2018, in the Raptors' 133-99 victory over the Cavaliers, Fred VanVleet played 24 minutes and scored 22 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal on 8-of-11 shooting, setting a new career single-game scoring record. On January 29, in the Raptors' 123-111 victory over the Lakers, Fred VanVleet played 20 minutes and scored 25 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, setting a new career single-game scoring record. On Jan. 25, in the Raptors' 108-96 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, Fred VanVleet played 18 minutes for the Raptors, scoring 19 points, seven rebounds and three blocks, setting a new career single-game rebounding and blocking high. On May 17, the NBA officially announced the list of the best sixth-man candidates of the season, and Fred VanVleet was nominated
In the 2017-18 regular season, Fred VanVleet played in 76 games for the Raptors, averaging 20 minutes per game, with 8.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists. On July 7, 2018, the Raptors officially announced a two-year, $18 million deal to renew Fred VanVleet's contract.
2018-19 season
On December 12, 2018, in the Raptors' 123-99 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, Fred VanVleet played 29 minutes and had 5 points, 6 rebounds and 14 assists on 2-of-5 shooting to set a new career single-game assist high. On February 12, 2019, Fred VanVleet suffered a partial ligament injury to his left thumb, which will result in a missed time of at least 3 weeks. During this time, VanVleet will use splints to fix the injury. In the 2018-19 regular season, Fred VanVleet played in 64 games for the Raptors, averaging 27.5 minutes per game, with 11.0 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
On April 24, 2019, the Raptors defeated the Magic 115-96 to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals by a large margin of 4-1. In that game, Fred VanVleet played 21 minutes, 7 points, 1 board and 10 assists on 3-of-8 shooting, setting a new single-game assist record for his playoff career, compared with his previous record of only four. On May 24, the Raptors defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 105-99 in the Battle of King Mountain, rewriting the Eastern Conference Finals total score to 3-2. Fred VanVleet scored 21 points on 7-of-9 three-pointers in the game, and he also set a record for Raptors bench players to hit a playoff three-point shot, and in the NBA League, the last to hit at least seven three-pointers on the bench in the playoffs was Channing Frye, who scored 27 points on 7-of-9 three-pointers in the 2015-16 Eastern Conference Semifinals. On May 26, the Raptors defeated the Bucks 100-94 to win the Eastern Conference championship and advance to the Finals by a large score of 4-2. In the game, Fred VanVleet scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting. It is worth mentioning that throughout the Eastern Conference Finals, Fred VanVleet hit 16 three-pointers, second only to Kyle Lowry's 20 three-pointers. In the first 15 playoff games of the season, Fred VanVleet scored just 60 points in total, while games four, five and six of the Eastern Conference Finals combined to score 48 points, and three points in three games totaled 14 of 17.
On June 14, 2019, the Raptors beat the Warriors 114-110 to win the NBA championship 4-2, and VanVleet won a vote in the FMVP selection. In game six, Van Vliet shot 6-of-14, including 5-of-11 from three-point range, and scored 22 points, 2 rebounds and 1 steal to help the team win. VanVleet also set a new record for three-point shooting by a single-season Finals substitute.
2019-20 season
On October 23, 2019, in the regular season opener, the Raptors defeated the Pelicans 130-122, and Fred VanVleet played bravely, cutting down a comprehensive stat of 34 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals to help the team win, including 34 points, a new career scoring record for VanVleet.
Fred VanVleet has strong rhythm control, a high basketball IQ, short height, and mediocre physical fitness. Fred VanVleet has a big heart, passes rarely go wrong in key moments, and has an excellent assist/turnover ratio as a point guard. Fred VanVleet's biggest problem is holding the ball for too long, playing with sticky balls, and sometimes overconfident in his choices. He was Fred VanVleet, alias Van Jordan.